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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 02/07/2006 : 03:01:57
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I, among many others, have been thinking it for some years: why pay perfectly good coin for something that can be had from the tap? And bottled water is a rip in more ways than one. quote:
Bottled Water: Nectar of the Frauds?
by Abid Aslam
WASHINGTON - Water, water everywhere and we are duped into buying it bottled.
Consumers spend a collective $100 billion every year on bottled water in the belief--often mistaken, as it happens--that this is better for us than what flows from our taps, according to environmental think tank the Earth Policy Institute (EPI).
For a fraction of that sum, everyone on the planet could have safe drinking water and proper sanitation, the Washington, D.C.-based organization said this week.
Members of the United Nations have agreed to halve the proportion of people who lack reliable and lasting access to safe drinking water by the year 2015. To meet this goal, they would have to double the $15 billion spent every year on water supply and sanitation.
''While this amount may seem large, it pales in comparison to the estimated $100 billion spent each year on bottled water,'' said EPI researcher Emily Arnold.
''There is no question that clean, affordable drinking water is essential to the health of our global community,'' Arnold said. ''But bottled water is not the answer in the developed world, nor does it solve problems for the 1.1 billion people who lack a secure water supply. Improving and expanding existing water treatment and sanitation systems is more likely to provide safe and sustainable sources of water over the long term.''
Indeed, and furthermore: quote:
At up to $2.50 per liter ($10 per gallon), bottled water costs more than gasoline in the United States.
There's a sucker born every minute -- I've forgotten who said that, but it wasn't P.T.Barnham.
When I was driving truck, I used to pick up bottle now and then. But mostly, I kept a gallon jug, filled at home, in the sleeper, and of/when it was empty, I'd refill it at a truck stop or, if behind scedual (or lazy), I'd pump my fuel and buy a small bottle. Taste-wise, I could never tell much difference.
I'm told that there is now flavored bottled water. Go figger....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
 Posted - 02/07/2006 : 05:15:28 [Permalink]
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Just don't switch to public drinking fountains as a substitute.
The science of epidemiology got its start when Dr Snow mapped out the cholera cases and found they formed a sort of bull's eye around a particular town water pump. |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 06:02:31 [Permalink]
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| I take tap water and run it through a reverse osmosis filter. Normally this water is used for my fish tanks, but I also use it for drinking and cooking. The RO unit removes 99.9% of non water particles. I have a tester that measures PPM...Mobile actually has decent tap water at 160 ppm, and the RO makes this 0 ppm. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 12:46:22 [Permalink]
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| I pay 99 cents for two gallons of drinking water. Santa Monica water tastes awful. I doubt that our water is unsafe to drink. And I do cook with it. But for drinking straight up, it has become a matter of aesthetics. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 14:45:14 [Permalink]
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Beskeptigal rejoined: quote:
Just don't switch to public drinking fountains as a substitute.
The science of epidemiology got its start when Dr Snow mapped out the cholera cases and found they formed a sort of bull's eye around a particular town water pump.
Dr. Snow was a hero, to track down the source of the colera infection. That was a public water outlet in Soho, London. It had its own local sewage-polluted well as a source, separate from the rest of London's water supply.
Here's the wonderful map that allowed Dr. Snow to find the source:
Most public water fountains these days use the same source as the rest of the town they are in, so should be about as safe (or as dangerous) as other tap water there.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 02/07/2006 14:53:29 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 15:28:49 [Permalink]
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I grew up in San Diego, where the public system got its water from the lower Colorado River, which by a remarkable coincidence happens to very closely follow the political border between California and Arizona.
That water was extremely hard and included a lot of salt content. My family never could afford a bottled water service. Though the San Diego water was what I drank almost everyday, I eventually grew to hate it, since we someimes traveled and tasted the sweeter stuff. Coming back and tasting that hard water was most unpleasant.
I don't know if the sodium content of that water actually made it borderline hazardous. I do know that soap would hardly lather. It was much harder to get clean with water already containing so much mineral content in solution.
Here in Half Moon Bay, our water comes from a local watershed, as well as from the Hetch Hetchy system in the high Sierra that supplies San Francisco. The quality is very high. But just a few miles up the coast, the community of Montara has deplorable local well water. Hardly anyone drinks it, but buys bottled water instead.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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marfknox
SFN Die Hard
USA
3739 Posts |
Posted - 02/07/2006 : 18:35:37 [Permalink]
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| Some of those flavored waters aren't bad. They have no calories, and they aren't sweet - just fruity. (I don't like really sweet stuff.) So for people who want a flavored beverage in the summer but who don't want soda, it's a nice option to have. |
"Too much certainty and clarity could lead to cruel intolerance" -Karen Armstrong
Check out my art store: http://www.marfknox.etsy.com
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 03:36:56 [Permalink]
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Re the safety of the public trough:
Chlorine requires time and concentration to work. The water supply is rendered safe to the fountain itself. But that's where the contamination occurs in the case of drinking fountains. The water at the fountain is likely to have less chlorine which evaporates out, and, it takes time for the chlorine to work. You get whatever previous drinkers have left behind for you.
While the cholera case involved sewage leaking into a well, the idea was that contagious diseases could be traced to sources where infectious organisms could reside and pass to the next person.
NPR audio filequote:
Scientists in Michigan have set out to determine the "germiest" surfaces and crevices inside elementary schools. They have learned is that it's not the bathrooms that are the worst.
The drinking fountain was seriously contaminated in this study by the news media.
An Investigation of Public Drinking Fountains and the Changes in Bacterial Colony Counts when Tap Water Is Allowed to Flow. It helps but not enough.
And surprisingly, there are a whole bunch of kid's school and science fair studies of drinking fountains that have made their way to web pages. Which One: Shopping Cart Handles, Doorknobs, or Drinking Fountain Handles Contains the Most Bacteria? quote:
1. Shopping cart handles: 4 Spots on the Soy Agar of the Petri Dish
2. Doorknobs: 159 Spots on the Soy Agar of the Petri Dish
3. Drinking fountain handles: 316 Spots on the Soy Agar of the Petri Dish
4. Control: 0 Spots on the Soy Agar of the Petri Dish
One could almost do a meta analysis from all the kids' studies.
At least one E-coli OH157 I am aware of was linked to a drinking fountain. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 12:25:27 [Permalink]
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| Yuck! Didn't know that, Beskeptigal. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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furshur
SFN Regular
USA
1536 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 15:12:05 [Permalink]
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24oz cold Budwiser or Budwiser light at the convinient store $.99
20oz water $1.20
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If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know. |
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Hawks
SFN Regular
Canada
1383 Posts |
Posted - 02/08/2006 : 17:45:08 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by furshur
24oz cold Budwiser or Budwiser light at the convinient store $.99
20oz water $1.20
Not only is beer cheaper than water - it also contains essential vitamins. |
METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL
It's a small, off-duty czechoslovakian traffic warden! |
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pleco
SFN Addict
USA
2998 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 07:57:53 [Permalink]
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| Beer builds character. |
by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 09:38:28 [Permalink]
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And at these prices, encourages thrift....
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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tomk80
SFN Regular
Netherlands
1278 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 11:55:23 [Permalink]
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| I used to drink bottled water when I lived in the Boston area. The tap water had to much of a chloric taste to really enjoy drinking it. Back in the Netherlands, the water in Maastricht is very hard, but still good to drink. At my parent's home the water is soft ground water. It tastes exactly the same as bottled water and is delicious. |
Tom
`Contrariwise,' continued Tweedledee, `if it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn't, it ain't. That's logic.'
-Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Caroll- |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/09/2006 : 12:51:29 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by furshur
24oz cold Budwiser or Budwiser light at the convinient store $.99
20oz water $1.20
Alas, the taste of beer is not for my palate; I am of the few who actually does not like it. |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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beskeptigal
SFN Die Hard
USA
3834 Posts |
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